The City of Terre Haute owes a lot of money on bills….a lot of money. Recent digging by the Tribune Star shows a rough financial picture.

As of Friday, the city owed $730,281 in bills that were more than 60 days overdue, according to information compiled by the city controller. Ellis says she monitors cash flow each day to determine which checks can be released for payment.

Some utilities, including Duke and Vectren, have sent disconnect notices to the city in recent months, records show. The city attributes some of those disconnect notices to mistakes. In the case of Vectren, a bill was misplaced, and for Duke Energy, checks for the right amount were sent — one was for $15,000 — but remittance forms were not correct, and so the checks were returned to the city. The matter was cleared up and those bills have been paid, Ellis said.